Items are commonly delivered from sources to destinations by mail, common carrier or means, and by any single mode of transit (e.g., by land, sea and/or air transit), or by two or more modes of transit. For example, when an item purchased by a customer is to be delivered from a warehouse or like facility to a location designated by the customer, the item is placed into a container along with one or more types of dunnage and, optionally, one or more other items. Some examples of the dunnage that may accompany an item in a container include packing materials formed from paper, wood, fabric, plastic or foam.
Dunnage acts as a valuable layer of security between an item and an interior surface of a container in which the item is to be delivered. In particular, dunnage shields external surfaces of the item against collisions with the inner walls or other layers of the container when the container is subjected to shocks, impacts or other adverse events that may occur while preparing the container for shipment, loading the container onto a vehicle, unloading the container from the vehicle, transporting the item from the vehicle to an intended destination, or at any other stage of the delivery process.
Despite its inherent advantages, the use or inclusion of dunnage when preparing items for delivery is occasionally accompanied by one or more challenges or complications. For example, it is frequently difficult to determine precisely how much dunnage, or what type of dunnage, should be included with an item in a given container. Where too much dunnage is included in a container, closing or sealing the container may be difficult, and the risk of breach or failure during delivery will likely increase. Moreover, the risk that the item will be damaged upon arrival also increases when a container is overstuffed with excess dunnage. When not enough dunnage is included in a container, the probability that an item will be damaged if the container is subjected to shocks, impacts or other adverse events increases. Moreover, including dunnage in a container necessarily slows processes by which an item is prepared for delivery to a customer. Furthermore, including dunnage in a container also naturally results in the delivery of additional mass from a source to a destination. Unless the dunnage is reusable or recyclable, and is either reused or recycled, the additional mass included in an individual delivery may end up in a landfill or other trash processing facility. Additionally, the net effect of the additional mass included in large-scale deliveries is a substantial increase in the amount of fuel required to complete such deliveries substantial amounts of additional fuel to be expended